Disappearing bed.



L. c. HUNTER.

DISAPPEARING BED.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21. 1915.

1,244,736. Patented: Oct. 30, 1917.

FFTCE.

LEWIS C. HUNTER, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

DISAPPEARING BED.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. so, 1917.

Application filed June 21, 1915. Serial No. 35,353.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIS C. HUNTER, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Detroit, in the county' of \Vayne and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inDisappearing Beds, of which the following is a specification, referencebeing had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to a disappearing bed of that type adapted to befolded and swung into a closet, alcove, wall recess, or a suitableinclosure, whereby the disappearing bed will occupy a comparativelysmall space and be invisible when not in use.

The bed forming the subject matter of this application includes a novelpivotal mounting, a foldable bed frame 'provided with tension devicespreventing a sudden movement of the bed frame, and automaticallypositioned feet for the bed frame when in a lowered or active position.

These structural devices and other matters will be hereinafter referredto, and reference will now be had to the drawing, wherein Figure 1 is aside elevation of the bed folded and swung within a compartment;

Fig. 2 is a plan of the bed showing the compartment walls and thepivotal mounting of the bed in section, and 1 ig. 3 is an enlargedelevation of a portion of the bed, partly broken away-and partly insection illustratingb an automatically positioned foot of the ed.

In the drawings, the reference numeral 1 denotes a wall having anopening or doorway 2, which may be an entrance to a closet 3. At oneside of the doorway 2 is a hinged door 4 and at the opposite side of thedoorway is the pivotal mounting of the disappearing bed. The pivotalmounting comprises vertically alining bearings 5 and 6, the former onthe floor or sill of the doorway 2 and the latter on the lintel or topwall of the doorway. The bearing 5 has antifrictional balls 7 of aconventional form supporting a bracket 8 provided with an upright 9. Theupper end of the upright 9 has a bracket 10 and a connecting member 11,said bracket and connecting member cooperating in holding an extension12 of the upright 9 in the bearing 6. The upright 9 and the extension 12thereof constitute a pivotal mounting or swiveled support for thefoldable bed structure and provides porting rods 47.

clearance for the door knob of the door 4. The location of the mountingis essential, as will hereinafter appear.

The brackets 8 and 10 support a rectangular head piece 13, said bracketsbeing connected to the top and bottom rails of the head piece,intermediate'the sides thereof. The head piece contains aconventionalpanel and the side rails 14, at the lower ends thereof, are providedwith fittings '15 and 16 having forwardly projecting arms 17. On theouter ends of the arms 17 are fittings 18 and 19 supporting tubular legs20. These legs are fixed in the fittings and the lower ends thereof havefittings 21 for a transverse rod 22.

The fittings, 18 have tension devices 29 which prevent a sudden andunexpected movement of the bed frame relative to its support.

Slidable in the tubular legs 20 are feet 32 having the inner endsthereof connected by coiled retractile springs 34 to the inner or upperends of the legs 20. The feet 32 have lateral extensions 35 extendingthrough slots 36 in the upper ends of the tubular legs. The lateralextensions are engaged by anti-friction rollers :37 on outwardlyprojecting pins 38, carried by tension devices 29.

The back feet are retracted by the springs 34 when the raised or foldedbed structure is swung on its pivotal mounting into the closet 3, andwith the back feet yielding, there is no danger of carpets or rugs beingtorn or otherwise injured.

The side rails 27 of the bed frame has the ends thereof connected bytransverse spring supports 42 for a suitable bed spring 43. The siderails 27, at the head piece of the bed, are also connected by a mattressstop 44 having corner pieces 45 and bearing pieces 46, said bearingpieces being formed by cutting the mattress stop and bending the cutportions thereof forwardly to cooperate with the corner pieces 45 insup- Connected tothe rods 47 and the transverse rod 22 are a pluralityof coiled springs 48 and these springs are adapted to facilitate raisingthe bed frame to a vertical or folded position, besides maintaining thebed frame in such position, as shown in Fig. l.

The outer ends of the side rails 27 of the bed frame have a foot piece49 provided with la suitable panel and with foldable feet 50 connectedby a transverse rod 51,

said foldable feet having ruled joint connections 52 with the footpiece, whereb said foldable feet can only move in one direction, asshown in Fig. 1.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, it is necessary to use ahinged door to close the doorway 2 and with the bed structure of greaterwidth than the doorway, it is also necessary to locate the pivotalmounting of the bed structure adjacent to the side wall of a doorway,whereby first one portion of the bed structure can be swung through thedoorway and then the remaining portion thereof. In this manner the bedstructure, when raised or folded, can assume a position with a portionthereof in parallelism with the outer side of the wall l,' or withanother portion thereof in parallelism with the inner side of the wall1, the first position representing the position which permits of the bedframe being lowered to a horizontal position and the bed used. Thelatter position, as shown in Fig. 2, is that of the bed structure in aninactive position, and it is possible for a person to enter the closet 3by passing around the edge of the bed structure.

What I claim is The combination with a wall having an opening adapted tobe closed by a hinged door having a door knob actuated latch, of apivotal mounting in the opening of said wall adjacent that wall-'of theopening to and from which the door knob edge of the door swings andcomprising off-set uprights providing clearance for the door knob of thehinged door, a head piece supported by said uprights, and a bed framesupported from said head piece and capable of being swung from ahorizontal position to a vertical position in parallelism with said headpiece.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature presence of two witnesses.

LEWIS c. HUNTER. Witnesses A. F. Dom, K. H. BUTLER.

